MyDD :: What Would It Take To Filibuster?

What Would It Take To Filibuster?

by mfeld356, Fri Jan 27, 2006 at 11:29:38 PM EST

Well, there might be some good news on the Alito front: Senators Kennedy and Kerry are seriously considering filibustering the Alito nomination. Inspired by dadahead's argument that the Democratic 'strategy' really doesn't seem any different than if the Democrats were intentionally trying to lose to the Republicans on every issue, I want to ask a simple question:

just how God awful does a nominee have to be before the Democrats use the filibuster?

I ask this because the three district court judges (Owens, Brown, and Rogers) weren't filibustered, and those guys are moonbat crazy loopy. Roberts wasn't filibustered even though it was absolutely clear that he is an archconservative. Even now, most Democrats are afraid to filibuster. So, to help everyone out, I've come up with a list of things that might make the Democrats gain the courage not to "consent" to Little Lord Pontchartrain's nominees: Former membership in the Schutzstaffel.
Kiddie porn.
Serial murder of nuns.
Active membership in the Communist Party.
Video footage of lynching.
Having worked in the pornography industry.
More kiddie porn.
Seriously, Thoughts from Kansas is dead on target here:

And the filibuster forces people to pay a little more attention. Many people, forgetting the lesson Hannah Arendt taught us, think that the banality of the hearings means Judge Alito is not evil, is not the wrong man for the job, and is not going to mess with their lives.

Now will we filibuster?

(this post originally was here)

Tags: Alito, filibuster, judges (all tags)

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Filibuster, How To (only you can make it happen!) (none / 0)

But only if we make it happen:

First: Call the Democrats (Mary Landrieu, Ken Salazar, Barack Obama, Tom Harkin) who oppose Alito but also said they oppose a filibuster. We must persuade them that a vote against Alito is meaningless if they don't support a filibuster.

Senator Salazar (D-CO) 202-224-5852

Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) 202-224-5824 (If you can't get through the Washington number, look up the Senator's District Office number in your phone book or here: http://capwiz.com/pdamerica/dbq/official s/?lvl=C)

Senator Barack Obama Phone: 202-224-2854 District Offices: Chicago: 312-886-3506 Marion: 618-997-2402 Springfield: 217-492-5089

Senator Tom Harkin Phone: 202-224-3254 District Offices: Des Moines: 515-284-4574 Cedar Rapids: 319-365-4504 Davenport: 563-322-1338 Dubuque: 563-582-2130 Sioux City: 712-252-1550

Second : Call your own Democratic Senator: 888-355-3588 or 888-818-6641. If you can't get through, look up the Senator's District Office number in your phone book or here: http://capwiz.com/pdamerica/dbq/official s/?lvl=C

Third : Unbelievably, three Democrats (Ben Nelson, Tim Johnson and Robert Byrd) support Alito! Tell them to either support filibuster or at least "don't get in the way." Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) 202-224-6551 Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV) 202-224-3954 Sen. Tim Johnson (D-SD) 202-224-5842

888-355-3588 or 888-818-6641. If you can't get through, look up the Senator's District Office number in your phone book or here: http://capwiz.com/pdamerica/dbq/official s/?lvl=C

Fourth: Call the "Red State" Democrats: (Message same as above -- "No" is meaningless) Tom Carper (DE)

Kent Conrad (ND)

Byron Dorgan (ND)

Mark Pryor (AR)

Fifth : Call these "Blue State" and pro-choice Republicans: (Message: A "Unitary Executive" is dangerous to balance of powers--please do not get in the way of a filibuster.) Lincoln Chafee (RI)

Susan Collins (ME)

Lisa Murkowsky (AK)

Bob Smith (OR)

Olympia Snowe (ME)

Ted Stevens (AK)

Blanche Lincoln (AR)

888-355-3588 or 888-818-6641. If you can't get through, look up the Senator's District Office number in your phone book or here: http://capwiz.com/pdamerica/dbq/official s/?lvl=C

For extra credit, call all of the 2008 Presidential candidates who are sitting Senators--Evan Bayh, Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Russ Feingold, and John Kerry--and tell them to either LEAD THE FILIBUSTER or KISS YOUR SUPPORT GOODBYE. 888-355-3588 or 888-818-6641. If you can't get through, look up the Senator's District Office number in your phone book or here: http://capwiz.com/pdamerica/dbq/official s/?lvl=C

You can also send that message to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (202-224-2447) and the Democratic National Committee (202-863-8000).

Polls and public opinion are another way to apply pressure -- get word out about why Alito needs to be filibustered:

Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper. (Click here)

People for the American Way has collected nearly 65,000 signatures to send to the Senate, please add yours: Save the Court Petition

John Kerry has endorsed this anti-Alito petition, signers' names will be read into the Congressional Record:http://www.johnkerry.com/...

by judybrowni on Sat Jan 28, 2006 at 07:42:02 AM EST

Re: What Would It Take To Filibuster? (none / 0)

41 votes on Monday? They have scheduled a vote on cloture for Monday and the primary sponsor (Kerry) for the filibuster is in Switzerland. You put up your post at just before 8AM Eastern on a Saturday. How many Senatorial offices staff their phones on a weekend? If I write a snail mail Letter to the Editor right now it would probably be delivered on Tuesday, too late for the vote that will cut off debate.

I feel your pain but you are at least two weeks late. Frist has scheduled a cloture vote on Monday, that motion is privileged meaning it cannot be derailed, and John Kerry has concluded that rubbing shoulders with the rich and famous in Davos this weekend is more important than blocking a right-wing ideologue who may be on the bench for decades.

Rage Against the Machine. I am all for it. I have been so angry at the Bush machine since summer 2002 (when it became clear that Iraq war was on no matter what) that my health has suffered. But I can also count votes and we don't have them even for Monday, still less for the series of votes day in and day out that would be required to sustain a filibuster.

If you believe that 41 Senators will tie themselves within 5 minutes of the Senate Chamber 24/7 for days or weeks in order to sustain a filibuster I suspect you have another thought coming. A near Party line vote against Alito with maybe a couple of Republican Moderates jumping in will send a powerful message to the other side but a filibuster in the traditional Mr Smith goes to Washington sense just isn't going to happen.

At this point even the concept of filibuster is meaningless. Near as I can tell the Senate is scheduled to debate Alito all day Monday anyway after which comes the cloture vote (to end debate and so any chance of filibuster). How exactly would you expect this to actually work in practice?

PollKatz: Bush Approval in 15 polls

by Bruce Webb on Sat Jan 28, 2006 at 09:59:14 AM EST

You are wrong (none / 0)

This is a fight worth having. In fact it is one of the only fights worth having on this day.

by aiko on Sat Jan 28, 2006 at 10:42:41 AM EST
[ Parent ]

And you are late (none / 0)

Any serious attempt to mount a filibuster would have started last weekend and had a work week to gain traction. Starting this effort on the weekend prior to a Monday cloture vote may be a valuable effort to rally the progressive troops and if so great.

My fear is that it will just cement the Republican talking point of "Democrats as obsructionists" and do so without raising American awareness of why Alito is a threat to begin with.

I'll wait until the heat dies down to discuss why judicial filibusters are a mistake to begin with. Here is a teaser: what if everything falls in place and we have a Democratic President with 55 Democratic Senators in 2008 and he or she sends up a judge with a strong record on Roe v Wade? Are you really going to be proud of the precedent you are setting here when the Republicans filibuster that nominee? Or are you just concluding that Democrats will be in the minority forever so what the hell?

Think.

PollKatz: Bush Approval in 15 polls

by Bruce Webb on Sat Jan 28, 2006 at 11:43:52 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Emergency session (none / 0)

So what is the progress on the Intelligence investigations? Seems to me that Monday morning would be an excellent time to push the Senate into emergency session.

How is John McCain different than John Edwards?

by The lurking ecologist on Sat Jan 28, 2006 at 12:49:47 PM EST
[ Parent ]

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